Play ball!

Spring training in the Grapefruit League is underway, and the first games will be played this week. The four teams on Florida’s Atlantic Coast -- all in the National League -- are paired off on Saturday. In St. Lucie West, the New York Mets will host the Washington Nationals, who are based in Viera. They will play at Tradition Field, named for the planned community a few miles away. It was Tradition Field before. Then Digital Domain bought the naming rights. Then the animation studio closed its doors. So it’s Tradition Field again. In Jupiter, the St. Louis Cardinals will play the Miami Marlins at Roger Dean Stadium. Neither team will have far to travel. The stadium, named for a West Palm Beach car dealer, is the home field for both and is the only two-team facility in the Grapefruit League. The Mets and the Marlins hope to bounce back from disappointing regular seasons. The Nationals and the Cardinals had outstanding regular seasons, both making it to the playoffs. Too bad the Los Angeles Dodgers won’t be playing in Vero Beach. They went to Arizona after the 2008 spring training season. Dodgertown is now Vero Beach Sports Village, but it still has spring training – for college and high school baseball and softball teams. For 88.9 FM, this is Paul Janensch.

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Four teams still hold spring training along the state’s Atlantic Coast, as Paul Janensch reminds us in this Treasure Coast Essay.